"In fact, the cross is clearly visible directly over the rendering of the San Gabriel Mission on the new seal, which was recently redesigned to omit the controversial Christian symbol."

Tony Bell, a spokesman for Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, said: "It's amazing. It's a Christmas miracle. The cross is shining through. [County officials] are talking about replacing it again. We are going to ask them to leave it the way it is."

Supervisor Don Knabe stated: "The cross has resurrected itself on the county seal. County employees just covered the old seal on Friday afternoon, and, in three days, the original cross has begun to bleed through to be visible again. I don't think we should spend another dollar of taxpayer money to replace the seal to eliminate that cross.

"It is very symbolic that the cross has reappeared on the new seal directly above the new icon of a mission, which does not have a cross. It is only appropriate."

As you surely guessed, the fanatical anti-civil-liberties group that calls itself American Civil Liberties Union is in a snit. It claims its failed attempt at censorship is "unfortunate."

"But they've made a good-faith effort," ACLU mouthpiece Elizabeth Brennan said. "It is kind of amusing."

After the intolerant ACLU threatened to sue, supervisors voted to blow $700,000 to censor the seal on buildings, vehicles, signs and uniforms.

County bureaucrat Tom Tindall, who oversees the sign shop that tried to cover up the crosses, doubted that "faintly glowing" symbols were a miracle, the Daily News reported.

"I'm not really clear what it is, but I'm pretty sure it's a graphics problem," Tindall said.

Activist David Hernandez, who heads a petition drive to let voters decide the issue, mocked the thought police's "comedy of errors." He added: "Do we call it divine intervention? There are just some things in life where you can't just make this stuff up."

Editor's note: